Gary Lambert joined Skaggs Regional Medical Center in Branson in late July as the health system's director of human resources. Lambert, a Florida native, moved to the Branson area in 1997. He has more than 20 years of human resources experience.
Q: How did you get into the human resources business?
A: In high school, I started as a bellman and a desk clerk between my junior and senior year, and that led me into the hotel industry. I went on to Florida State University for hotel and restaurant management. Eventually, I climbed the ladder through hotel operations management. I became food and beverage manager with a Holiday Inn in Key Largo, and then general manager of a Holiday Inn in Fort Myers. I was there for about a year and a half, and I came to the determination that my ladder was leaning up against the wrong wall. I was climbing this ladder of success and progression for hotel management, but I got there and wasn't happy.
Q: So what changed?
A: A former employer I had worked with called from the Grosvenor Resort in Orlando. He said he thought I would do well in human resources ... and he gave me the opportunity to transition from a 200-room hotel to a 628-room hotel as human resources director. I had no HR-specific experience at the time - this was in 1988 - and it was an independent hotel on Disney property, so we had to accommodate all of Disney's service and grooming guidelines. So I was quickly immersed in the world of human resources.
Q: You moved to this area when you took a job as HR director for Big Cedar Lodge. How did you get from hospitality to health care?
A: I worked at Big Cedar for 11 and a half years, but I got caught up in layoffs. I unfortunately had to do a number of layoffs myself when the economy started going bad, and it wasn't too much longer before I was laid off myself, along with some of the other management folks. So I was unemployed for several months, looking for the right opportunity. I knew there would be nothing local in (hospitality), and I thought I'd have to leave the area. But one of the vice presidents (at Skaggs) contacted me to let me know this position was opening.
Q: What do you bring to your new job?
A: One of the things the leadership team has an interest in here is the service perspectives I can bring on board from the hospitality industry. I also brought a little more sense of fun, because it's always been my personal philosophy that you have to enjoy what you do. Whether it's serving tables, cleaning rooms or doing a lobotomy ... we spend entirely too much time on the job not to enjoy what you're doing with your career.
Q: What are the differences between HR in the two fields?
A: A lot higher percentage of your population is educated at higher levels in health care. You also have more employment agreements in place that make the employment environment more formalized than you would normally see in any hotel. In a hospital, physicians are almost always under an employment agreement.
There are also a lot more acronyms - health care is right up there with the military and the government in its use of acronyms.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
